OP-ED: Diablo III Finally Dated, But Is Physical or Digital The Way To Go?

Blizzard's highly anticipated action RPG will be out two months from today.

We knew Diablo III couldn't be far off after Blizzard revealed it would ship the game without its PvP Arena mode. That feature will be delivered sometime after launch in order to avoid delaying the game yet again when the core content -- which is what most people are interested in above all else -- is nearly done. It's so close to being finished, in fact, that there are only two months left to wait: Blizzard has today announced a May 15 release date for Diablo III.

The wait for the game has been a long one, to put it mildly. Diablo II was released in mid-2000 and its lone expansion pack, Lord of Destruction, followed a year later. In the ensuing years a sequel was in development that looked a lot like its predecessor, but it ended up being canceled and Blizzard North was shut down. That resulted in the current decade-long wait for a Diablo sequel, though in the meantime numerous games like Torchlight and Titan Quest have tried to fill that void. And while it's remained highly anticipated even through this excruciating wait, Diablo III has been faced with a variety of controversies including its change in art direction, the always-online requirement, and the real-world money auction house.

I'm as excited as anyone for the game; Diablo II (with the accompaniment of Lord of Destruction) is probably my favorite game of all time, and the one I spent more time with than any other. Suffice it to say Diablo III is a day-one purchase for me. But with no idea of when it would be released, I had yet to give any consideration to how I would go about purchasing it.

The offer announced at last year's BlizzCon where you get a free digital copy of Diablo III with a one-year commitment to World of Warcraft is a really good deal... provided you're interested in playing WoW for an extended period of time. But I'm not especially inclined to play WoW at the moment, at least not until Mists of Pandaria is released, so I can rule that option out as I'm sure many people can and have.

What got me thinking about this in the first place is the image above, which comes from the official blog post announcing the May 15 release. Battle.net is now offering the digital version of the game for pre-order and promises prospective buyers they'll be able to play immediately upon release. While that's nothing unusual for digital releases, Mass Effect 3 aside, there haven't been many games in recent memory where I felt I had to play as soon as humanly possible, making this option very enticing.

Yet purchasing a digital copy of a game comes with certain caveats. It means not having anything to put on your shelf; no manuals or other goodies to flip through. With PC games it's a moot point, but it also means sacrificing the ability to trade, sell, or loan that game to someone else. On the other hand, a digital copy can be far more convenient. There's no need to look for a game disc or card, nor is there any reason to worry it will become scratched or broken.

It's a decision gamers were rarely faced with until this past decade. Choice is a good thing, don't get me wrong, but it also presents what can be a tricky decision. When purchasing PC games I always turn to Steam first, and failing that, I've bought a few through Origin. As I'll never have the option of selling old PC games I no longer want, there's little downside to going digital.

But Blizzard games have always remained the exception for me. Part of that is they aren't available through Steam, but there's also something I enjoy about owning a physical copy of a Blizzard game. As I've amassed a larger and larger digital collection, however, I see less point in collecting boxes and papers I won't bother to look at again a week after launch.

Where the digital-or-retail decision becomes especially difficult for me is when it comes to portable games. I purchased a PSP Go thinking it would be terrific to always have a bunch of my games with me, but it ran into serious issues by not having access to the entire PSP catalog (including, in some cases, new games released after the Go) on the PlayStation Store. With Vita that has been rectified; every retail game is available from PSN at a discounted price over the MSRP, although retail of course has the freedom to offer cheaper prices on those games. I expected to go digital-only with my Vita games, but the combination of expensive memory cards and better deals at retail have led to Lumines being the only one of my four Vita games I've bought from PSN. And that's just as well, as I'm not sure something like FIFA 12 is a game I'll want to hold onto long-term.

Not that I would have gone for the WoW Annual Pass deal, but hearing that it comes with a digital copy of Diablo III instead of a physical one initially seemed off-putting to me. Upon further reflection, my previous insistence upon buying Blizzard games at retail -- including WoW and all of its expansion packs, which I have reinstalled numerous times by downloading them as opposed to using the discs -- may have to come to an end if it means playing Diablo III sooner and without having to attend a midnight launch.

Do you put much thought into the format you purchase games your games in, or is it largely dictated by whichever provides the best bonuses? Let us know in the comments below.

Comments (22)

hard copy best choice

for about the same price u still get ditagial copy of the game to dl whenever and u get the discs also is there gona be a single player version of it.? or is it all online disc u could set up with no internet but anyway...................... the reason am goign hard copy is i have crapy internet am messing around with dif harddrives ect... i whipe my hard drive or d3 gets deleted for some reason or i get new ssd whatever the case when intaling windows again id rather not have to dl a huge game ill have enof shit to download already and the disc+sata 3 ssd is like intant download

Only thing that matters

If you buy the digital version now you can download it now. No worry about the servers being hosed because you have over a month to download it. But, it won't allow you to install it until May 15th. The download is over 7gb, so for those with inferior connections, it could take a while. Why wait for the mailman or UPS when you can be playing at the stroke of midnight? Why deal with physical discs to begine with? Why pay tax (ok amazon doesn't have tax)? It'll install much faster from digital form than optical disc as well too and optical drives are slowing dieing as well.

As others have mentioned, you can't resell it anyway. Your key is tied to your blizzard account, letting you download it in the future as needed. I've already purchased one copy and will purchase another soon for my son and I've already downloaded the installer. Just waiting till May 15th to install it now. I'm assuming there will be a patch the first time I install it, but thats no big deal.

BATTLE.NET DOWNLOAD SERVERS TO BE SLOW ON NIGHT OF RELEASE?

My concern is that the Battle.Net download servers are going to be OVERRUN with people trying to download Diablo 3 whenever it gets released.(Will that be at midnight?) I would hate to be sitting there watching it download slowly at 1AM, 2AM, and so on when I could've just gone and picked it up at the store at Midnight.

What do you guys think? Anyone know the time it will be available for download? I think, like everyone, I wanna maximize the time I have with the game that night!

Physical.

I'm still not happy about the price of PC games getting raised. What is even worse is when the digital and physical copies are the same price. I'll be buying a physical copy to save some money(amazon credit) and cut into Activision's profit(combined cost of a packaged product and distribution). Plus I get package that is somewhat collectible.

I'm not going to pointlessly boycott the game. I'm not saying D3 isn't worth it especially in comparison to other games that aren't as good that also cost $60. I'm still a huge fan of Diablo. I'm still buying the game. But I still care enough to resist in the ways that I can no matter how trivial they seem.

DIABLO 3

its 100% legit.. all you do is fill in some surveys in your spare time and you are rewarded with points in which you can pre-order any game :) i've recieved 3 games from there so far so its deffinitlely safe

It's a moot point with Battle.net

You need a username and password to login to play the game regardless of whether you purchase the digital or the physical copy. The only thing the disc is gonna be good for is installing the game. It's pointless to buy the boxed copy unless you really want another box on your shelf. Personally, I own hundreds of games and thousands of movies. I don't need the extra hassle, anymore. It was nice to have to parade around when I was younger. Now I just want the content.

Why wait so long to annouce release date?

They had to know a better time frame than 2 months? I mean I can see like giving 5-6 months notice of an actual release date. But I dunno, I almost wish they would hold this game until PvP is done. But it should be a good summer game nonetheless. And for me, I am going with physical.

Sure

Right, I'm going to pay $60 for a purely digital copy of a game that lost all its hype 2 years ago, and is releasing no different than the version we saw 4 years ago. Blizzard waited so long on this one, and are pricing it barbarically because they know the can get away with it. You're a fool if you don't see Activision's hand in all this. They spent over-long on a game, and STILL can't release it feature complete - no offline SP, no LAN, no PVP at launch, no skill trees, no uniqueness of character, armor sets that look straight out of 2004 WoW, and graphics more dated than my stepmom. It's nothing short of a travesty. I was excited about this game in 2008, but now time has passed it by and reading about it/seeing it can only frustrate me further. Blizzard is dead.

I will gladly buy digital... Once the price is right!

I would greatly prefer to buy the digital version of Diablo 3 (as I am not a big fan of physical products that take up my valuable living space) if the price was the same (or better yet, cheaper) than the physical copy. As it is though, here in the UK, the digital copy of Diablo 3 costs £45 whilst a physical copy can be bought for £33 on Amazon.

What kind of madman would willing spend an extra £12 for the exact same product?

Blizz Game Are Bound to Accounts

Physical or digital? To what end? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you have to create a Battlenet account to play any modern Blizzard games. Once the game and serial number are tied to your account, you can chuck the physical copy. So long as you have an internet connection, you can log into Battlenet and redownload the game whenever you need too. (Discovered that option after my first attempt to quit WoW - tossed the discs, only to find out the game was tied to my account. I will always be able to download it.)

So what are you left with? A cardboard cd case (most don't use jewel cases anymore), a manual, maybe some free passes to give your friends and a box.

I like "new" and "shiny" just like most people, but if they shave off $5-$10 off the digital, I see no reason not to go digital. If I need a manual, that's what Google is for.

The only reason to buy physical product anymore is for "collector's" editions which, after The Old Republic (my first time ever buying the collector's edition of a video game), I can't see myself ever doing that again.

Any physical copy of a Blizzard game also includes "digital download"

You mention that one of advantages of digital copies is the convenience of being able to avoid discs ("On the other hand, a digital copy can be far more convenient. There's no need to look for a game disc or card, nor is there any reason to worry it will become scratched or broken."). And while I agree in general this does not apply to Blizzard games, as no matter if you buy a physical or digital copy of the game you can ALWAYS download the game from your Battle.NET account any number of times.

This is an incredible custumer service from their part and I believe it's worth mentioning.

In other words, in the case of Diablo 3, the only reason to get a digital copy over a physical one would be the higher likelyhood of getting the game on time of release.

Yep.

Isn't that a lovely service

I've had several computer changes recently and I've been able to download all of the starcraft and diablo I want right onto them without a problem or paying a dime.

I must say I feel weird and somewhat guilty for feeling like I want the digital copy so I can play it RIGHT AWAY, even though I've always treasured game manuals and boxes for some odd reason. Plus, I live in a small town where I might not even be able to get a copy in a reasonable time, so that is also a positive side to the digital copies of any game.

It is?

So there no main solo quest anymore? What are they shipping then, an empty box?

This isn't a game I'm excited about, though I like the first one a lot and thought the second was fun though more of the same. I never had the urge to take either of them online though, prefering my gaming solo.

Where did you get that idea?

You may be

The dumbest person on the internet...congrats. If Diablo is all about the PvP...then why did the creators fo the game say it was never about it... and it was only somethign that was added in later in D2... And then they also said it wasn't used the way they had thought since it was used primarily by griefers. No, the purpose of the Diablo franchise is the item grind. The new focus on plot is a nice change too but after Normal that won't matter. And like someone else said were you really planning on PvP'ing at level 1? The game is done, the additional features may not be, and Blizz doesn't wanna put out half baked ideas. So I'm glad I won't be partying with you...asshat